RockOn! Sounding Rocket Payloads

During Spring of 2020 and Spring of 2021 I worked for Colorado Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-affiliated organization, where I built and tested components for sounding rocket payloads launched in June 2021. My team ultimately received the 2021 NASA Agency Honor Award for Group Achievement.

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Goals

  • Develop materials to launch 60 student-built experiment payloads on a Terrier Improved Orion sounding rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

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My Contributions

  • Built and tested breakout boards, connectors, sensors (Geiger tubes, gyroscopes, temperature, humidity, pressure)

  • Sawed and drilled steel and aluminum structural brackets

  • Learned function of each component and subsystem through assembling, programming, and testing a payload to teach process to students from public, community, and tribal colleges

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Results

  • Completed workshop to launch experiments to 73 miles above sea level

  • Received 2021 NASA Agency Honor Award for Group Achievement